Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth (SBV), Associate Centre of IYA, organised the 2nd International Health Research convention (IHRC) from January 20-23, 2023 at the SBV campus, Pondicherry. The International Conference titled “Role of Yoga and Music therapies in Promoting Salutogenesis” was also held on January 21, 2023 as a part of the convention which was the first combined event by Schools of Yoga and Music Therapies (SoYT and SoMT respectively) that came together under the ambit of Institute of Salutogenesis and complementary medicine (ISCM).

The inaugural session began with the welcome address by the Director of ISCM, Prof. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani followed by felicitations by and of the ‘Guests of Honour’ including Pujya Maa Dr Hansaji Yogendra, President of IYA and director of the Yoga Institute, Mumbai, Dr. IV Basavaraddi, Director MDNIY, Dr. Anita L Swanson, president of World federation of Music therapy and Dr. Indra Selvarajah, Faculty of the University Putra Malaysia. The vote of thanks was rendered by Prof Sobana R, Admin In charge of SoMT and was conducted by Dr. Meena Ramanathan, the Deputy Director & Admin In charge of SoYT, the MC of the event.

Following the inaugural session, the Keynote presentations were given by Guruji Dr HR Nagendraji, Chancellor SVYASA, Bangalore and Dr. Indra Selvarajah, University Putra Malaysia.

The invited talks were given by Dr Satish Pathak, Assistant Director, SRD, Kaivalyadhama, Maharastra, Dr ST Venkateshwaran, Professor and HoD, Govt. Yoga & Naturopathy College, Chennai, Dr. Lori Rubenstein Fazzio, Clinical professor Yoga Therapy, Loyola Marymount University – USA and Yogathilakam Jnandev Giri, Acharya, Gurukula, Portugal. Parallel to this session, the paper presentations by the students were also conducted.

The plenary session presented by Dr. Nrithya Jagannathan, Director, KYM Institute of Yoga Studies, Chennai, Dr Sampandananda Mishra, Dean – Culture & Professor, Rashtram School of Public Leadership, Rishihood University, India, Dr Sangeeta Laura Biagi, Gitananda Nada Yoga, Italy and Prof. Arpan Bhatt, Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat were all well received by all the delegates of the conference.

The Invited talks for Music Therapy were in the afternoon session with Prof. Jessie Janssen, Department of Health Sciences, Institute Therapeutic & Midwifery Sciences, IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Austria; Prof. Cheryl Dileo, Founding Director: The Arts and Quality of Life Research Center, USA; Prof. Sumathy Sundar, Founder & Director, CSMT, India; Dr. Parin Parmar, Consultant Pediatric Allergist & Asthma Specialist, Gujarat, India.
The last session was the panel discussion that included Prof Madanmohan, Yoga Sakthi Cathy Davis, Yogacharini Devasena Bhavanani, Dr Rama Reddy Karri, Dr Baishali Mukherjee, Dr Satish Pathak, Dr Uttareshwar Pachegaonkar and Prof Sobana R. The session was moderated by Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, the Director of ISCM.